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“Stuff to trade?”
He scoffed. “You really think the fair folk want—” Noel pulled a bottle of some mysterious pale liquid from the back of the cabinet and uncapped it. He reared back and coughed. “Vinegar?”
“Think we can convince them it’s alcohol? I hear they go nuts for that stuff.”
Noel choked back a chortle. “It’s your life to gamble with, I guess.”
Footfalls trailed a little closer toward him. “Considering the sorry state of this place, I feel like whoever lived here last did about the same… Throw yourself smack in the middle of the delta so no one can touch you and suffer the consequences the second they find a way to strike.” She ran her fingertips along the countertop, rubbing them together when they came away coated in dust.
“Pretty sure this is why we have iron walls now,” he muttered.
She snorted. “You don’t think they’ll eventually find a way past those too? They’re crafty little fuckers. I think they’re more than capable of destroying those barriers, given enough time.”
“Something we’re decidedly short on.” He stood and dusted his palms off on his pants.
“What are you planning to trade, anyway?”
The question took him by surprise. He’d been almost certain she’d keep up the doom and gloom, but instead, she watched him with dark eyes, waiting for his answer. Noel bit the inside of his cheek. “I’m not sure yet. I’m sort of hoping to get ahold of something like a weapon to give back to them?—”
“Poetic,” she mused with a smirk. “And Grey?”
He had to refrain from pinching his lips into a thin line. “Did he not tell you with all your talking last night?” Surely that had to have been a topic of conversation. What the hell else would they be talking about unless she was feeling him out?
Cy shook her head. “Nope. He didn’t tell me.”
Noel bit back a sigh and opened his mouth to explain, halting at the quiet melody tickling his ears. “What the hell?”
Her brows knit together. “What? I said he didn’t tell?—”
“Shh—” he snapped. “Listen.”
Her eyes slowly grew wide before she spun on her heel toward the door—a door, in which, Noel suddenly realized she had walked through alone.
“Where’s Grey?”
33
GREY
Grey’s warped reflection in the ripples of the pond fueled his curiosity as his small hand dropped another silver coin in, his dark eyes following its descent until the depths took it. The water lapped against the mossy edge, and the coin reappeared beside him once more. His mouth tugged down at the corner as he picked it up to try again, thinking that surely this would be the time he’d catch a glimpse of what lurked below.
“Grey, sweetheart.”
He fumbled the coin, and the usual, graceful plunk turned into a splash that rolled into a bemused giggle from his mother as she crouched down beside him.
“What are you doing?” Her voice held that teasing lilt, just like it always did when she found him lost in wonderment.
A lap of the water, and Grey whipped around to find the coin right back where it started. “Hey!” he cried, his disappointment aimed at the ripples left behind.
His mother’s bubbly laugh cut through his momentary frustration as she brushed back the messy locks pouring over his face. Each touch banished another layer of his sulking.
“I don’t think this faerie wants to be seen, sweetheart.”
“Why? I just want to be friends…” Grey rocked back and hugged his knees, resting his chin there. He searched the pond for movement, but all the ripples had stilled, leaving nothing but a smooth mirror of tranquility.
“I’m sure they want to be your friend too. Why else would they be playing little games?”
“I feel like they’re teasing me like the other kids…” Grey pouted.
